Ghostly Mermaids
by Icequeenofthebay
Summary: The Extreme Ghostbusters have a run-in with mythical creatures; mermaids.


It's a foggy day, the wind is strong out on the ocean, a fishing boat emerges with 4 men out on the deck swinging a net full of fish on board.  
"We've never caught so many fish in one morning, great idea on a place to fish Jim!"  
Jim the fisherman with his arms folded just gave the man a smug glance.  
A ghostly high pitched sound in the distance quickly distracts the fishermen.  
"What was that?"  
They run to the front of the deck to try locating the source of this strange sound.  
The sound becomes clearer as they appear to be getting closer to the apparition; it's the sound of a woman singing. The fishermen try their hardest to look for the woman through the fog.  
"It's the most beautiful sound I've ever heard", said one of the fishermen who is holding tightly to the railings in disbelief.  
As they begin to break through the fog they see a young woman sitting on a rock, singing opera and running her fingers through her hair. The waves are splashing up against her body and as the waves lower, the fishermen see that she has what appears to be a dolphin's tail instead of legs.  
"It's a mermaid", whispers a fisherman as he seems in a trance by her beautiful voice.  
One of the men takes a large step back from the railings "We have to turn this ship around! Have you not heard what mermaids are capable of?"  
The other fishermen are too busy admiring the young mermaid, "Amazing".  
The boat creeps closer while the concerned fisherman is running for the cabin to get the boat away from the mermaid.  
The mermaid looks at the men and begins to levitate above the water, the mermaid begins to speak, "what are you doing…"  
The mermaid begins to make a hideous transformation, growing tentacles, blue skin, fins on her face and sharp teeth, "…FISHING IN MY SEA", squealed the creature.  
The men scream as a shadow covers the boat.

Meanwhile, in the firehouse Edwardo is in the bathroom shaving with Slimer floating around behind his head with a look of curiosity on his face, leaving slime all over Edwardo's shoulders while he tries to get a closer look.  
"Buzz off slime ball! I have enough shaving cream, I don't need your slime too!"  
"Hmmph", Slimer mumbled as he left the bathroom and begins whimpering to Kylie who turns the other way and continues to read one of her many books on Mythology.  
Edwardo leaves the bathroom while drying his neck with a towel.  
Garrett glances across, "Hey Eddie, you missed a bit!"  
"Ha ha", says Edwardo in a sarcastic tone as he throws the slime soaked towel towards Garrett. The towel lands on Kylie's book and she looks less than amused, "I can't even read it now, you've covered the paragraph I was reading with slime!"  
"Um.. sorry", mumbles Edwardo.  
"Um, sorry?" questions Kylie in an agitated mood, "You're so careless and everything you do is a total disaster!"  
Edwardo begins to feel angry himself, "Oh, a disaster? I've saved your butt more than once lady. You need to lay off."

Kylie stands up and points her finger towards Edwardo and opens her mouth ready to unleash verbal abuse when Egon walks in, "We got a call from the docks, looks like we have another incident out at sea".  
"Saved by the bell", says Garrett as he rolls towards to the lounge door.

The Ghostbusters arrive on the scene, they are shocked to see the boat docked closest to them was guarded by police with yellow tape surrounding the scene.  
"Looks more like a crime scene", says Roland looking confused as they approach the yellow tape.  
One of the guards approaches the team, "This is a restricted area, there's nothing to see here!"  
Garrett moves closer to try to negotiate, "We were called here, the Ghostbusters".  
The officer raises an eyebrow.  
A man begins to approach from the back of the ambulance, wrapped in a blanket, "I called you".  
The officer begins to back away, "Keep it to the other side of the tape", he ordered.  
Garrett got a glance of the boat as they began to move away from the police, he could see a body with a white sheet over it and men in uniforms preparing body bags, "I've got a bad feeling", he mumbled.  
The team decided to conduct the witness interview next to the Ecto 1 out of earshot of anyone on the crime scene.  
The man leaned against the Ecto 1 and began to give details of what he had witnessed, "My name is Garry, that's my fishing boat", he pointed at the boat crawling with police and forensics.  
"There was a mermaid."  
Garrett looks puzzled, "A… mermaid?"  
Garry continues, "She was singing…"  
Kylie interrupts, "I've read about mermaids, they sing to lour sailors to their deaths"  
"But why?" asks Roland.  
"She said we were fishing in her sea right before she attacked us and sucked the life out of my men".  
"Did I just see dead bodies on that ship?" Garrett asks while trying to decipher if this job is too dangerous for them to handle.  
"It would appear that way, but even after their pulses stopped I could hear voices coming from their bodies and one of them even blinked, the police think they're dead and they were looking at me like I was crazy when I tried to explain".  
Roland tries to piece the story together and thinks aloud, "So they were either killed or stunned by a mermaid".  
"Sounds way more complicated than stunning", Kylie observes.  
"Boy, did Disney get it all wrong", says Edwardo, trying to lighten the mood.

The Ghostbusters report back to the firehouse when there is nothing more they can do on the field without getting access to the scene.  
Garrett enters to room ahead of the rest of the team and announces, "We've got some news for you Egon, we've discovered a ghost that actually kills people!"  
Egon turns around in shock, "What?"

Roland cuts in, "It doesn't KILL people, they are stunned, but they have no pulse and seem to show signs of no life, but can still project voices and sometimes even blink or move".  
Egon looks concerned, "Hmm, I've never encountered anything like this before."  
"We couldn't get onto the scene for an ecto sample", says Kylie, "But we got the coordinates from our eye witness".  
Edwardo is sitting in a dining chair backwards, looking cynical, "The other eye witnesses are dead".  
"We don't know that", says Roland, "Maybe we should see if there's a way we can inspect the bodies".  
Janine, standing in the doorway begins to head downstairs, "I'll make a phone call but don't hold your breath".  
Egon gives the Ghostbusters their instructions, "I'll continue my research on the mermaid, if you can get your hands on a boat you can use those coordinates to find the mermaid who attacked these men, report any readings back to me and see if you can get an ecto sample".  
Janine and Roland return to the room and Janine gives her report, "The good news is that none of them are organ donors, which buys us some more time, the bad news is there is no way they'll let us inspect the victims. They start getting buried in 5 days, so even still, we have a deadline".  
The Ghostbusters return to the docks and try their luck with asking fishermen if they can use their boats, but with no luck.  
Edwardo locates a bar facing the docks with a carving of a boat above the door, "we could try in there".  
"A fisherman's club perhaps?" asks Garrett.  
"An excuse to go drinking perhaps?" Kylie comments in a patronising tone.  
"They could be right Kylie, if this is where fishermen off duty hang out, they might be able to help us", says Roland.  
The team enter the bar which is occupied by old men, the Ghostbusters sit around a table to plan their next move as Edwardo heads for the bar, "Hey, can I get a beer?"  
The bar man glares, "you got any I.D?"  
Edwardo begins to fidget, "Umm"  
The bar man folds his arms and stares his down.  
"Fine", mumbles Edwardo as he heads back to the table and slumps in a chair.  
From the next table 3 old men can be heard talking, "They say it was a mermaid, she sucked the life right out of them", said one of the men to the others, "That's what you get when you enter forbidden territory, the sea, she gets mad and summons up her demons, just like the legends say. She tricks you with her voice and takes your life, your soul be lost at sea forever".  
Kylie approaches the men, "Excuse me, I think we can help, we are looking for the mermaid, her victims aren't dead and we can help them".  
The old man snapped, "Nobody can help them, they are as good as dead and the same fate will befall you if you try to challenge her, just as it did to all the sailors who tried".  
"But we have the equipment", says Garrett smiling with a cocky tone.  
"It's not enough! You will be wiped out with the rest of them if you try, don't be foolish and just go home", challenged one of the men.  
A man approaches from behind and puts his hand on Edwardo's shoulder, he screams and turns around quickly, arming himself.  
The man puts his hands up. "Woah, don't shoot!"  
The rest of the Ghostbusters glare at Edwardo as he puts his gun away.  
"Follow me and we will talk somewhere more private", says the man as he leads them to a back room.  
"My name is Derek", says the man as he places a bowl of chips in the middle of the table, "Don't mind them out there, they're bitter about the mermaid, they have their reasons. I can help you if you can truly help us. The mermaid is wiping us out and is claiming more and more areas of the ocean so we don't even know where is safe anymore."  
"I'm listening", says Roland, hoping that they've found their solution.  
"I have a boat, I will take you there", says Derek, "the mermaid, it must be stopped. I'll stay in the cabin and you can do the rest, you are responsible for your own lives, I won't be joining you on the deck, no matter what happens, are we understood?"  
"Loud and clear!" exclaims Garrett, "you just leave the busting to us".  
"We're so dead", says Edwardo bluntly.

The Ghostbusters begin boarding the boat, Edwardo and Roland board as much equipment as they can. Roland checks everything and pulls the ramp back on board.  
"Here are the coordinates, can you take us there?" asks Roland as he hands a sheet of paper to Derek.  
"You leave that to me", says Derek as he snatches the paper and locks the cabin door.  
"Hmph", huffs Roland as he goes to join the rest of his team on the front deck.  
The engine starts and begins to slowly turn away from the dock, "Sails away!" shouts Garrett. He shrugs his shoulders and smiles as everyone is staring at him.  
A couple of hours have passed, Kylie is resting her face on her hand while leaning over the railings, holding a PKE metre and Roland is more alert at the other side of the deck keeping an eye on the equipment for responses.  
"Are we there yet?" asks Garrett in a childish tone.  
Edwardo smiles, amused.  
"Almost", Roland quietly responds.  
"Hey, even if we don't find the ghosty, we still get a free cruise", jokes Edwardo.  
"I've got something", exclaims Kylie as her PKE metre begins to sound.  
Roland leans over the deck, "Listen".  
A ghostly sound of singing comes from the distance as the fog begins to clear away.  
"It's amazing", says Roland quietly.  
Edwardo picks up some headphones and slides them across the deck to Roland, "We don't want another Syren incident". Roland kicks them back, "That's not funny".  
They see a rock in the water, but no mermaid.  
"Oh well, false alarm, let's go enjoy our cruise", says Edwardo.  
Kylie looks angry again, "Edwardo!" She pauses, "Urgh! I don't know why you bother".  
"I came to kick some tail", brags Garrett as he loads up his proton gun.  
Two hands and a face peer over the rock, a very beautiful face stares right back at them.  
Roland points, "There she is, the mermaid!"  
Garrett and Kylie begin to take aim and Edwardo leans over the railings in a casual fashion, "Hey babe", he says with a subtle smile on his face, "I hear you've been a bad girl".  
"This is no ordinary chick Eddie and you're in my shot", Garrett says firmly.  
"Edwardo, get out of the way!" shouts Kylie.  
"Ooh somebody's jealous", smirks Edwardo.  
While the Ghostbusters were arguing the mermaid dives into the water.  
Kylie glares at Edwardo and marches up to him, "What is your problem?"  
"What's my problem? What's your problem chico?" Responds Edwardo.  
"I'll tell you what my problem is, while you were making an idiot of yourself the mermaid got away!" shouted Kylie in frustration, she pushes Eduardo, "Just stay out of my way!"  
Edwardo retreats to the side of the boat where he slumps on the floor with his arms folded and a fed up look on his face. The rest of the team are trying to trace the mermaid from the front of the boat.  
"Hello", says a quiet voice. "Huh?" Edwardo turns around to see the young woman peering over the side of the boat. "You've been a bad boy", says the mermaid, then whispers in his ear, "you're on my water".  
Edwardo tries to get his friends' attention, "Erm, guys!"  
By the time they had turned around, she had grabbed Edwardo and began to pull him overboard, Garrett rushes over, "Eddie!"  
Edwardo disappears under the boat; they all lean over the edges shouting for Edwardo.  
The sea around the boat begins to glow, the boat begins to move quickly away from the area, Roland runs to the cabin, "What do you think you're doing? She's got Edwardo!"  
Derek panics, "It's too late for your friend, he's gone!"  
Garrett approaches quickly, "NO!" he shouts as he punches through the window, "We're not leaving Eddie behind!"  
Roland puts his hand through the broken window and opens the door, forcing himself in to take control. Garrett rushes back to join Kylie on deck, "We're going back for Eddie, Roland's taken control!"

Kylie is leaning over the edge scanning the area around her, "Edwardo..", she whispers frantically.  
Garrett leans forward readily armed, "We'll find him, we always do".  
Kylie puts her hand over her face, "I've spoken to him like dirt all day, I didn't mean anything I said".  
Garrett glances over to the rock where they first saw the mermaid, Edwardo is laying over the rock with his legs floating behind him. "Over there!" Garrett shouts as he points towards him.  
They move the boat closer to get to Edwardo, but as they approach, the mermaid leaps out of the water in her most hideous form towards the boat.  
Kylie blasts the mermaid and Garrett follows with his proton gun, the creature writhes and struggles but is helpless, Kylie throws the trap and the mermaid is sucked in while letting out a squeal.  
Roland runs from the cabin, dives into the water and swims towards Edwardo.  
He grabs Edwardo and throws him over his shoulder, another mermaid demon jumps from behind the rock, Roland jumps backwards trying to swim away with Edwardo.  
Garrett blasts another stream at the mermaid and drags her towards the boat, kylie shoots too.  
"There's more of them?" shouts Kylie as she throws another trap.  
Roland gets back on board, dropping Edwardo on deck first, "But how many more?" Roland asks.  
They trap the second mermaid and Roland checks on Edwardo who's still unconscious.  
Garrett looks out at the sea where mermaids are diving across the ocean away from them, "that many", he responds to Roland.  
"There must be hundreds", says Kylie, "It would be impossible to trap them all".  
Roland stands while still looking down at Edwardo, "We have to find a way, Edwardo is one of their victims…"  
"Look!" shouted Kylie as she kneeled down and pulled Edwardo's collar back, "there's blue markings on his neck". She checked his pulse and found nothing, other than his hand suddenly twitching.  
"The same as the fishermen", commented Roland, "he's showing signs of life, but no signs of life".  
"Makes... sense", Garrett remarks.  
"Like some kind of paranormal coma?" asks Kylie.  
"Perhaps", says Roland, "we have to get back to Egon, maybe he can explain".  
"Let's get back to shore!" says Garrett.

The Ghostbusters return to the firehouse, Garrett carrying Edwardo in the elevator, "It's ok buddy, haven't I always got you out of trouble?" He quickly looks away, concerned and exits onto the lounge floor.  
Eduardo is laying on the couch, Egon begins to take swabs from the mark on Edwardo's neck and looks for traces of ecto residue.  
Egon runs some tests while the gang sit in the lounge getting more worried the colder Edwardo is becoming.  
Egon returns from running tests and they all gather around Egon's computer as he begins more research.  
"We captured two of them, but there are hundreds, we'll never get them all!" exclaimed Roland.  
"Maybe they have a leader", guesses Kylie.  
"They do", answers Egon, "Triton, master off all mermaids, it says here on my data that he has 300 mermaids, all disguised as attractive young females with hypnotic singing voices to entice trespassers and stun them for all eternity, perhaps by defeating Triton, the head demon we could revive his victims, or we can only hope".  
"There's no guarantee of bringing back his victims?" asks Kylie with concern.  
"I've never dealt with a ghost who stuns his victims into a replication of death before, we can only but try", says Egon.  
Kylie pauses for a moment, "If the victims have no pulse, how are they still alive?"  
"Their blood is no longer running as their hearts have stopped beating, but there is a paranormal life force which appears to be preserving their bodies, from the tests I have discovered that an ectoplasmic poison has been somehow injected into the veins, which effectively freezes the heart to make the victims appear dead."  
"Hmm, kind of like the poison used in Romeo and Juliet", suggests Kylie.  
"So how do we find this Triton?" asks Garrett pumping his fist into his hand.  
"I'm afraid that's up to you", says Egon having found no ideas on locating Triton.  
"Let's go!" shouts Garrett as he rushes for the door.  
Roland hands Egon the ghost traps to empty into the containment unit.  
Kylie glances back at Edwardo and sneaks over, making sure that everybody has left the room, she sits on the edge of the couch and leans down to give Edwardo a sly hug, "I'm sorry", Kylie whispers before she gets up to catch up with the others.

Kylie catches up to the Ecto 1 before they leave, gets in and closes the door, "let's go!" she shouts.

The Ghostbusters are back on the boat, heading back to where they found the two mermaids which they captured.  
There was a sense of sadness among the Ghostbusters and they each stared quietly into the sea.  
Kylie and Garrett look close to tears, Roland slowly approaches them, "All we can do is capture Triton, then leave the rest to fate, we need to snap out of it and do our part", says Roland, trying to put a bit of team spirit into his two remaining team mates.  
Garrett changes his expression with more confidence and arms himself, "Roland is right, I'm not letting them take Eddie without a fight!"  
The boat approaches the rock; the PKE readings become stronger as they get closer, they begin to hear singing.  
They wait for a while then begin looking over the sides of the boat, the singing stops, Kylie turns around and gasps, there's a mermaid sitting on the railings at the front of the boat in her semi-human form.  
The mermaid looks at Roland and Garrett, "Hello boys".  
Garrett points his proton gun at her, "Goodbye chick!"  
He blasts her and begins to pull her in.  
Kylie runs to Garrett, "Let her go! I have an idea"  
Garrett looks confused, but stops blasting.  
The mermaid is hurt so needs to retreat, so she dives back into the water and dives through the waves as she is swimming away.  
"Follow her!" shouts Kylie.  
They go full speed after the mermaid, she then comes to a cliff then swims downwards.  
"We lost her!" shouts Garrett.  
"Maybe not", says Roland, "there may be a cave down there, if only there was a way to get down there and find out".  
"Not it!", jokes Garrett.  
"Roland, are you crazy?, We can't go down there!" says Kylie.  
Garrett removes his proton gun from his pack again, "I have a better idea", and with that, he blasts the cliff.  
"Move back!" Shouts Roland, Derek pulls the boat back to avoid being hit by an avalanche.  
"Are you crazy? What's wrong with you?" shouts Derek angrily.  
"I'm trying to cave in the cave if you get my drift", says Garrett.  
"I get it, to drive the mermaids out", says Roland enthusiastically.  
They all begin to blast at the cliff, smashing it to pieces with their proton beams.  
Mermaids begin to swim under the boat to escape.  
The Ghostbusters are then distracted by the cliff rumbling like an earthquake.  
An old man peers out of the water, "is that…?" started Roland, when the old man stares back at them, who immediately shoots a beam right back at them.  
"WOAH!" exclaims Garrett, rolling back, "Let's get him! On three".  
"THREE" they all shout as they blast the apparition in the water, but he dives back under.  
"He's gone", say Roland.  
"I'm not giving up on Edwardo just yet!" says Kylie as she climbs over the railings.  
"What are you doing?" shouts Garrett.  
"Bait, I need to lour him out!" says Kylie.  
Garrett pulls himself closer to the railings, "Get back over here!"  
Kylie tries to turn around but slips, hanging onto the railings she dangles with her feet close to the sea water letting out a scream.  
Roland and Garrett begin to pull her back up and Triton jumps and tries to drag Kylie down into the sea. Roland grabs Kylie around the waste and pulls as hard as he can, Garrett leans over the railings and blasts Triton, holding him in a proton beam. Roland pulls Kylie back up, they land on the deck instantly noticing the boat is crawling with mermaids dragging themselves towards them. They blast everywhere trying to deter the mermaids from getting any closer.  
"A little help here guys!" shouts Garrett as he still has Triton in his proton stream, Triton has now transformed into a scaly creature covered with tentacles and external teeth . Kylie and Roland blast at Triton too, they try to hold the streams in position while trying to avoid mermaids on the deck.  
Kylie throws the trap and opens it, as Triton gets sucked down into the trap, the mermaids begin to curl up and scream. Triton disappears into the trap and the mermaids turn into fish, flopping around on the deck.  
The Ghostbusters arrive back at the shore and approach the Ecto 1.  
"Do you think it worked?" asks Roland.  
Nobody answers, they just get in.  
They arrive back at the firehouse and pull up in the garage, they begin to get out of the car.  
"Haha! Eddie!" shouts Garrett as he approaches Edwardo who's standing at the bottom of the stairs, Roland and Kylie quickly follow when they heard, emerging the car smiling.  
Edwardo looks at Garrett confused, "What you so happy about? First I'm on a boat getting yelled at and next thing I know I wake up on the couch, did you knock me out I was annoying you so much?"  
Kylie runs over and wraps her arms around Edwardo's waist without saying a word.  
This has never happened before so Edwardo is very confused, so he tries to brush it off with dry humour, "I'm not so irritating now huh?"  
"Shut up", says Kylie bluntly, but remains cuddled up to Edwardo.  
Edwardo simply lays a hand on Kylie's back and smiles.  
Roland and Garrett look at each other with amusement.


End file.
